Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Tales

No blooming future hereIf there was any argument needed in favour of educating children, especially girls, here is one. At Dombivili station, this little girl was spotted going over her stock of flowers, bundled into packets ready to be sold. The flowers are of the type usually offered to deities, and these cost Rs 5 per packet.

Pic/Shrikant Khuperkar

But in between counting the packets and calculating the total amount she would get, the child got confused between the number of packets and the number of rupees. She gives the total amount to her mother at the end of the day, and she gets to keep Rs 15-20 for herself.

The jumble of figures was too much for her, and she was unable to count the packets. Basic schooling would not just help her, it would make the flower-selling redundant... but between earning a little more every day, and sending an extra pair of hands to a classroom, we guess the girl’s mother has made her decision. We very much hope she can grow up to a better world, sooner rather than later.

When the CM went unnoticed... sort ofWhenever Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis decides not to work out of his sixth-floor office in Mantralaya, staffers in his office get a bit of a breather. But one such calm afternoon last week turned up a surprise for the relaxed staffers when the CM arrived in his office unscheduled.

Illustrations/Amit Bandre

He had decided against alerting his staff in advance about his visit, and as a result found himself not surrounded by officials as he generally is. A little bird who happened to look in at the window of Mantralaya tells us that the CM and his personal assistant were the only people in his chamber for quite some time. Only later did the word spread, and other functionaries emerged from their cubicles and went to the CM’s office.

So now we know how the top brass can find a bit of peace and quiet for themselves...

Celebrating Amrita with a musicalSinger Kavita Seth, writer Salim Arif and actor and theatre personality Lubna Salim are coming together in ‘Main Tainu Phir Milangi’, to pay a musical tribute to Amrita Pritam, the colourful, controversial and outstanding woman in literature during the last century, at St. Andrew’s Auditorium in Bandra (W) on February 25, 2015 at 7.30 p.m.

The tribute celebrates the life and poetry of the late Amrita Pritam (August 31, 1919 to October 31, 2005). With concert proceeds going towards the underprivileged, this may be a good opportunity to help and also learn a little about this maverick artiste. Your call, entirely.